The Mark of a Beta

six

Yesterday we reached #3 in Werewolf on The Dark Side of the Moon! Soooo unbelievably grateful to everyone who read that book and is now reading this one! 

Enjoy this chapter, it's a long one :)

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Axel's POV

The first six years of my life were centered around physical and emotional pain. I experienced undeserving abuse from my own parents who instilled in me the belief that I deserved pain, that I should learn to enjoy it because it wasn't going anywhere.

The first six years of my life were hell- until they weren't.

Growing up in the Dark Wood pack, I threw my life into our livelihood. I trained hard, kept a regimented schedule to keep myself organized, and never strayed from that plan. Grayson, my closest friend and Alpha of our pack, saw potential in me and named me second-in-command after his father passed. I knew I was the best candidate for the position, so I accepted under the pretense that I could help with the smaller-scale responsibilities- aiding wolves in pack training, overall organization of pack functions, and my personal favorite- enemy interrogations.

Yes, I mean torture.

When you're as fucked in the head as I am, your heart becomes twisted into this bloody, beating muscle that serves no other purpose except to bask in the pain of others. I was never meant to be gentle or soft.

I wasn't made to love.

The idea of a mate was never something I lingered on. Unlike Grayson who could go on for hours fantasizing about the love of his life he had yet to meet, I never thought about it. Not once. I never considered that the Moon Goddess could find any hope in my warped soul for another to fit in. I threw myself into the work, into spreading fear among our enemies, into learning the signs and weaknesses in every opponent that would lead to our eventual victory. Grayson and I strengthened Dark Wood in a way that gained us far more attention than I would have liked.

I was just trying to protect those in my pack, the ones who were defenseless and fearful. I knew what that felt like all too well, and if I couldn't save myself, then I sure as hell could try to save them.

It was Grayson's idea to send me to the Lunar pack in the first place. He said that I had been going through the motions for a while. He wanted me to break the pattern.

I hated the idea. I hate surprises in general, so Grayson practically ordering me to find out information on the nearby coven who liked to wreak havoc on innocents did not sit well with me.

I took three of our top warriors- Cole, Serena, and Alric. There were others who were just as qualified, but those were the three who deserved it and got on my nerves the least. Cole was especially qualified because his mate is a werewolf who grew up alongside a coven. He knows of her experiences, so he may offer the most insight to this growing coven concern.

I offered to kill every member of the coven, but Grayson told me that the High Council would never approve of that action unprovoked and that I would die trying.

I assumed that this weekend would be boring and filled with building upon pack alliances.

I assumed wrong.

I'm currently in the middle of my first meeting with the Alphas and Betas of the Lunar Pack, and in stumbles my mate. He seems to have been running from somewhere, his cheeks flushed a bright pink. His wide eyes dart around the room as if he just realized he interrupted an important meeting.

I was getting bored, anyway.

He searches the room, and then his eyes are locked on mine. I feel so many things at once. I can't remember the last time I had an onslaught of emotion like this- my world feels like it is being ripped apart and reformed in seconds. This new world orbits around this man, my mate.